Johannes Cadovius-Müller

Johannes Cadovius-Müller (born June 2, 1650 in Hamburg , † October 10, 1725 in Stedesdorf ) was a German theologian and philologist .

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Johannes Cadovius-Müller was a premarital son of the theologian Matthias Cadovius and his first wife Anna Dorothea Decker, whose father worked as an organist in Hamburg . To show consideration for his father, he used the name Johann Müller at a young age .

Cadovius-Müller completed a theology and medicine degree at the universities of Greifswald and Rostock and worked as a preacher in the later years of his studies. His father found him a job in East Frisia , where he moved immediately after finishing his studies. In 1670 he got a job as rector in Esens . Three years later he married the Amsterdam-born Johanna von Driel. From 1675 until the end of his life, Cadvius-Müller worked as a pastor in Stedesdorf. After his father's death in 1679, his half-brothers wanted to deny him a share of the inheritance.

Cadovius-Müller did not come from the region, but in the early years of his pastor's time in East Frisia, he already loved the East Frisian language, which was dying out at the time. Early on he created the basis for his main work “Memoriale linguae Frisicae”, which he did not publish during his lifetime. The words contained in the “Memoriale” are easy to understand for readers with knowledge of North Frisian, Westerlauwersfriesian or Sater Frisian. The choice of words is very similar to the Rüstringer Frisian of the Old East Frisian legal monuments and the New East Frisian dialect of Wangerooge, which has no longer existed since around 1950 . He worked based on the basic vocabulary of the Harlinger Frisian. Phonological inferences are difficult to make on the basis of this work, because the quality of the long vowels and diphthongs is not even remotely known.

Ullrich de Eyben, who was born in East Friesland and worked as Reich Chamber Court Assessor in Speyer and Wetzlar , asked the Wittmund pastor Engelbert Brunner whether he could take up the Frisian language. Brunner commissioned Cadovius, who looked after several localities in his parish whose inhabitants still used the Frisian dialect. Cadovius worked meticulously and jotted down numerous words, phrases and texts. In the original, the four manuscripts G (Groningen), H (Halle / Saale), A (Aurich) and J (Jever) are known. The manuscript in Jever was created last and is the most complete work. Cadovius had to use outside helpers, at least in part, in his work. He did not write down the names of these people.

The work created by Cadovius-Müller includes, in addition to the list of words, various Frisian idioms, an overview of the weights and measures used in Friesland, biblical passages and the Lutheran catechism. There are also drawings of historic houses in the region and of clothing. It also contains the old Frisian dance song from “Buhscke di Remmer”.

Cadovius-Müller gave several reasons for the constant decline in the use of the East Frisian language and the imminent extinction of the dialect in the region:

1. a significant settlement of residents who do not come from East Frisia.
2. the move of the Frisians to rural areas, so that Frisian could not establish itself as a dialect in almost any city.
3. the standard German language prevailed in schools and in administration.
4. The East Frisians tended to only communicate with each other in East Frisian. People who did not speak the language could rarely learn it in this way.

With this he predicted later developments.

Cadovius-Müller's “Memoriale” did not appear in print until 150 years after his death. An earlier publication might have given people living later the opportunity to add to his work. The work is the most important evidence of the knowledge of the New East Frisian language towards the end of the 17th century.

plant

• Memoriale linguae Frisicae , published by L. Kükelhan, Leer 1875 ( digitized version )

literature

• Marron C. Fort: Cadovius-Müller, Johannes. in: Martin Tielke (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich, Vol. 3 ISBN 3-932206-22-3 (2001), pages 76-78.